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Rock music in Italy

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Music of Italy
General topics
Genres
Specific forms
Gregorian chant
Media and performance
Music awards
Music charts
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Music media
Music media in Italy
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem
"Il Canto degli Italiani"
Other
"La Leggenda del Piave"
Regional music
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Italian rockis a form ofrock musicproduced primarily in Italy. The music genre has roots in the country as it spread in the early 1960s from the United States with the earliest versions ofrock and rollduring this period beingcover versionsor interpretative covers of already existing songs.

History[edit]

1960s and 1970s[edit]

See also:Italian progressive rock

The first distinctively Italian singer-songwriter wasPiero Ciampi,whose style was reminiscent of the Frenchchansonniers.The United States and United Kingdom during the 1960s were in the midst of thepsychedelic rockboom, which inspired Italian psychedelic bands such asMario SchifanoandLe Orme.At the time of the1968 student uprisings,many young and educated Italians began to identify with thecounterculturein France, Mexico, the US and across the world. Young Italians still had a well-educated familiarity with classical music composers likeBach.The result was an influx of classically influenced rock bands which fit right into the international move towardsprogressive rock.Italian progressive bands include:

Some bands, likeOsanna,Area,PerigeoandArti & Mestieri(Arti e Mestieri), fused progressive rock withjazz,fusionandworld music.Il Balletto Di Bronzo'sYSis one of the most debated Italian prog-rock albums; Some calling it trash and others extolling it as one of the greatest progressive albums ever made. Another important album of the time wasArbeit macht freibyArea.They merged agit-prop lyrics, jazz-rock jamming, raw electronics, middle-eastern scales and psychotic warbling, creating an original mixture of different music styles. Area were fronted byDemetrio Stratos,one of the most original singers of his age, who recorded experimental albums entirely devoted to the human voice such asCantare la Voce.The same period, the early 1970s, also saw the rise of Italian singers and songwriters likeLucio Battisti,Fabrizio De André,Franco Battiato,Paolo ConteandFrancesco Guccini.

By the end of the 1970s, Italianpunkandcomedy rockpioneersSkiantoshad released 1978'sMonotono,which kickstarted the Italian punk scene. Later bands likeThe Confusional QuartetandGaznevadafusednew waveand Italianvarietawith punk and other influences.

1980s[edit]

In the 1980s, Italy boasted one of the most vibrantnew wave,hardcoreandthrash metalscenes. In the late 1980s, more extremeheavy metalbands appeared. Of these bands include:

1990s and beyond[edit]

Members ofFrozen Crown,Nocturna, andVolturianafter a shared concert.

In the 1990s, Italian avant-garde,alternative rockandmetalbands gained international notoriety, at least among critics. In general, the sonic model was a mixture of Big Black, Sonic Youth and Fugazi, while the themes coined a sort of neo-existentialism, very much concerned with the psychodramas of ordinary kids. Italy, the homeland of melodic music, turned out to be one of the major international centers for post-rock.Gianna Nanniniin the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s was the first Italian rocker who achieve real popular success outside of Italy, especially in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux and later in Mexico. WhileFrancesco De Gregoriwas well appreciated by critics and well-informed fans outside of Italy it was Nannini who was first Italian pop icon to stick and to shift between pop and rock with ease and to stay the course through trends and upcoming generations.Zucchero,Eros RamazzottiandJovanotti(later:NekandLaura Pausini) all went on to become huge international pop names in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Other artists to emerge in the 1990s and beyond include:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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